Poaching

Poaching or cooking in liquid is one of the great arts of Chinese cooking. There are many different poaching styles, and once you’ve mastered them you will not believe the different textures and flavours you can tempt out of poultry, meat and fish. Many of the poaching liquids can be kept and reused, or reduced to make a luxurious sauce. The four main techniques used in this book are master-stocking, red-braising, white-cut and salt-watering. Each method produces different textures and tastes, in some cases from almost the same ingredients.